Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said will arrive in Tehran on Sunday to meet Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to sign a deal to purchase liquefied natural gas and oil from the Persian Gulf oil-rich state.
According to an Indonesian ministry spokesman, Sujatmiko, the two sides are expected to discuss signing a short-term contract that calls for exporting 120,000 barrels of oil from Iran to the Southeast Asian state, IRNA reported. An official at Indonesia's state energy company, Pertamina, said on Friday, the imported crude will be processed in Central Java oil refinery.
In an interview with METRO TV in Jakarta, Indonesia, Iran's Minister of Economy Ali Tayyebnia recently announced that Iran is ready to provide Indonesia with 200,000 barrels of oil per day.
"Central Java oil refinery's much-needed crude, whose processing capacity stands at 120,000 bpd, can be imported from Iran as the quality of the Persian Gulf state's oil is matching the refiner's standards."
Stressing on expanding collaboration between Tehran and Jakarta, Indonesian's Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro noted that his country welcomes signing oil contracts with Iran and attracting Iran's investment to build refineries in this state on condition that Iran guarantees crude supply to the refinery.
According to Brodjonegoro, Indonesia's fuel consumption is twice its domestic production, which explains Jakarta's endeavors to attract foreign investment for developing energy projects in this country. Indonesia's OPEC Governor Widhyawan Prawiraatmadja had said that before Indonesia can seal the import deal for Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, oil and other condensates, the government needs to work out how to transfer funds to Iran.
"Clearly, Indonesia needs several things and I think its biggest need is LPG. Iran has an LPG surplus and if they can give us a better LPG price, we should automatically buy from Iran," he said. Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, who met with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of a Jakarta conference on March 15, said he asked Indonesia's bank regulator to work with Iran to resume banking relations as soon as possible.
